If you pray to Lady Luck, the Lady hears,
But all the phrases polished to entreat
Must grind so smooth, so painfully discreet,
That human voices take a thousand years.
If you pray for endless time and light,
The Goddess will obligingly obey:
The wick of each excruciating day
She burns to shine an endless, sleepless night.
In compensation, there is no need
To seek exaltation in glorious deeds;
Depths at hand will yield a ready reef
Of unexpected suffering and troves of grief.